Active vs Passive change

I am planning on buying a set of EMG 81 in the bridge and EMG 60 in the neck of my Ibanez S Series. The S has passive humbuckers in it but I had recently played my friends LTD EX-400 with the same pickups just mentioned and pinch harmonics and arpeggioes have incredbile clarity. But I heard from a friend that it is not a very wise choice to change from passive to active. Is this true? and why? Any help is most appreciated. Thank you UGers.

there's no reason not to change to actives if that's the sound you're after. just takes a bit more work to install than if you were swapping to another set of passives, nothing big and unmanageable though.

Like said above, it is all about the sound you want. If you like the active sound go for it. It takes a little more work installing actives as you need to switch out the pots and jack but it is not any harder than installing passives.

If you have tried EMG's and they sounded good to you then trust your own ears. Active EMG's are definitely geared to heavy genres of music so if you need something thats going to play blues, country, or jazz then EMG's are not going to be a good idea. On the other hand, if you just wanna play heavier music and you thought the EMG's you tried sounded right for you then you should get EMG's.

If you have tried EMG's and they sounded good to you then trust your own ears. Active EMG's are definitely geared to heavy genres of music so if you need something thats going to play blues, country, or jazz then EMG's are not going to be a good idea. On the other hand, if you just wanna play heavier music and you thought the EMG's you tried sounded right for you then you should get EMG's.

depends what EMGs. Mine are great for blues, country, jazz. Anyways, I love 'em

When you played the guitar with active pickups in, was it through the same (or a very similar) amp to the one you usually use? Was it with the same cables? Are the two guitars made with the same kind of woods in the same kind of construction to the same sort of quality? Did that guitar have the same kind of strings you usually use?

There's much more to sound than just pickups, especially when it comes to clarity and dynamic reaction to playing. Active pickups are very specialised pickups, you shouldn't put them in a guitar unless you know it's specifically only the active pickups that gave the sound you liked.

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When you played the guitar with active pickups in, was it through the same (or a very similar) amp to the one you usually use? Was it with the same cables? Are the two guitars made with the same kind of woods in the same kind of construction to the same sort of quality? Did that guitar have the same kind of strings you usually use?

There's much more to sound than just pickups, especially when it comes to clarity and dynamic reaction to playing. Active pickups are very specialised pickups, you shouldn't put them in a guitar unless you know it's specifically only the active pickups that gave the sound you liked.

Yeah I played it through my amp and same cables. The guitars are very similar in make. And I noticed that I can't even get pinch harmonics at all in my guitar but in his it sounds amazing. I'm looking for a nice high output sound with extra clarity for leads.